"Let me go!" Arielle shouted, struggling with Lawrence who was pulling her out of Eden's chamber.

"Calm down!" he said, holding her as tightly as he could without hurting her.

"Let me go! I won't leave her! She's not gone! She is not gone!" she screamed.

"I'm sorry Arielle." he said, still not letting go.

"No! I don't believe you! I don't believe you!"

"You can't help her anymore."

"No!"

"Eden's gone!" Lawrence shouted and turned Arielle around to face him, "She's gone, Arielle!"

"No!" she yelled.

But the look on his face showed her that he was telling her the most painful of truths. She saw a great anguish on his usually warm, friendly face and there was an emptiness in his eyes that an army could fall into and never fill.

"No..." Arielle now said, her voice failing as the realization that Eden had died grew stronger, "Why?... Why did she leave... me...?"

Lawrence held her as four hooded monks silently walked down the corridor and into the chamber, gathered and wrapped Eden's body up in pale sheets, and began to leave. Arielle watched Eden's body pass her and her eyes caught the warrior's hand hanging loosely from out of the sheets. The hand seemed to be reaching out to her, asking not to let go of it, not to leave Eden all alone. An indescribable guilt clenched the bard's heart. Had she given up too easily? Had she done everything she could? Did she protect her like she promised she would?... Was Eden's death her fault? It was more than the bard could bear.

"No! Eden! Let me go!" Arielle shouted as she began to thrash in Lawrence's firm grip again.

"Let her go. Give her peace." Lawrence tried to reason.

Wasn't it her arrow? Didn't she wound Eden?

"Eden! Come back!" the bard shouted.

"She's in God's hands now."

Did she put her there? Was Eden's hand pointing at her and accusing her? Was Arielle again to blame for the suffering of her best friend? Or was Eden waiting for her to bring her back?

"Then I'll tear her from the very hands of God!" Arielle screamed at the top of her voice as she watched Eden's body fade from view, "Eden! Eden! EDEN!"

"Eden!"

Arielle awoke with a violent start, screaming the warrior's name. Her lungs were burning as she tried to catch her breath and her eyes flew about the room, trying to recognize where she was. As her breathing calmed and her heart slowed down its hammering, Arielle realized that she was on the floor in Eden's chamber. Her eyes automatically darted to the bed and she saw Eden lying there; her mind trying to process how that could be if she had just been carried away. Arielle scrambled up and dashed over to Eden, hovering over her and gently stroking her hair, studying her for signs of life... or death. And for a few seconds, the bard's breath, heart, and thoughts stopped, waiting for the crushing realization that her dream was real and that Eden was now kneeling in the light of God at the gates of Heaven.

But her eyes caught Eden's breathing and blue eyes that slowly opened to look up at her and the blond's mind scrambled to process her fears, dreams, and reality all at once. The bard just watched the scene unfold in front of her, not sure of what was real and what wasn't, if this was a hope come true or a cruel dream about to end.

"Arielle..." Eden whispered.

"Eden..."

"Am I... dead?"

The words finally crashed into the bard's mind and blew away her stupor like a wall of wind and she let out a breathy, shaking laugh of relief.

"No... No, you're not dead. You're very much here..." Arielle replied, erupting into tears of happiness and sadness, running her hands down the sides of the warrior's face just to make sure it was all real.

"Why are you crying?" Eden asked, as Arielle rested her hands on her cheeks.

"Because you're so damn stubborn." she answered with a smile through her tears and in her relief she kissed the guardian's forehead, conveying all her happiness and torment in that one gesture.

Arielle finally embraced the warrior gently. She held her in the still present dread that perhaps the monks would come for the guardian anyway. She felt Eden put her arm around her weakly and with effort and the bard tried to stifle both tears and laughs as she wondered if she would ever let go of the guardian.

"You still have nightmares..." Eden quietly observed of the shouts that had woken her and Arielle began to sob, overwhelmed that the guardian who had just escaped death was thinking firstly of her.

It was too much for the bard. They had been so close to losing each other. Only minutes separated them from the looming tragedy in her nightmare and the now welcome pressure of the warrior's arm around her. Arielle had been strong the whole time and no longer had the strength for it. She slumped onto Eden, burying her face in the guardian's neck and crying for all that might have been and all that thankfully didn't come to pass.

Eden recovered quite quickly under Lawrence's vigilant gaze, Arielle's care, and Helen's cooking. Her shoulder no longer hurt when the demon's blood was gone, but the poison had sapped her of nearly all her strength. The bard found it difficult to ensure the stubborn warrior got plenty of rest and Eden would only stop complaining, growling, and unwillingly finally concede when Arielle would threaten to call over Lawrence so he could chain her to the bed. Eden was sure they would do just that if given enough reasons.

Lawrence had already said his goodbyes as Arielle desperately held on to hope when Eden stood at death's door. He remembered walking into the chamber, seeing the warrior lying there looking like a ghost of herself with a kneeling Arielle beside her. A fear of the worst gripped his heart as he approached, his footsteps echoing in his ears. But then he glanced at her bared shoulder and he saw the strange markings which he had only seen once before in his life in a book. The black lines that marked the poison traveling through her veins were completely gone and he didn't know how it happened exactly, but he knew Eden had survived. He had tried to tell the bard, but utter exhaustion had taken her over and though he called her name, she slept. He laid her down more comfortably on the floor and decided to give both women much needed rest.

He said little, but he was more relieved and happier that she was alive than Eden probably would have known. He watched her in quiet content as she slowly, but surely regained her strength. Yet, he also noticed something different about Eden, something that seemed to be creeping to the surface like an underground spring just beginning to break ground. There was a new element to the hardened and painfully practical warrior- playfulness. He noticed it finally in the kitchen, where one of the friends always seemed to end up with dough in their hair, a carrot piece in their pocket, or flour in a different place each time. It reminded him a little of when they were children and he and Eden would throw leaves at each other in the fall or splash each other in creeks in the summer. He missed her laughs and smiles terribly and he could see that Arielle was now slowly buying back something the guardian had sold at a terrible price and Lawrence knew that no one deserved it more than the warrior.

The Hospitaller wondered whether Eden had known she had been poisoned by Dorian, but he knew that she never would have kept something that grave to herself. And that meant that the danger she felt on the road to Mirabel wasn't due to the poison, but lurked elsewhere. Yet he decided to give Eden a little space and time to rest before he shared his worry with her.

Arielle and Eden spent a lot of time practicing or taking long walks primarily to keep the guardian from turning the constantly gushing Helen into a meat and vegetable pie. The bard noticed that the sister seemed to exist in two states: wise and reasonable when she was only with Arielle and giddy and talkative when Eden was around. Eden liked Helen for the entire three minutes she could stand her and then Arielle had to intervene and try to control both the conversation and the guardian so that the day didn't end with causalities in the kitchen. That particular day, Arielle practically pushed Eden out into the training yard and thrust swords into their hands after Helen's comment that their care over Felix went to prove that they would be perfect mothers... to their child.

"Keep your feet apart... watch the height... keep your body centered..." Eden adjusted as she watched the bard practice the defensive moves she had taught her.

Arielle practically beamed in the knowledge that Eden's instructions were becoming rarer and more minute. Eden noticed the change in Arielle's body, the muscles had begun to ripple under her skin when she moved and swung and with each day the bard became a tougher opponent to defeat. And though the knowledge that Arielle could defend herself calmed Eden somewhat, the warrior hoped that the bard would never have to use her skills.

"Alright..." Eden drawled, trying to hide how impressed she was with the bard's progress and skill, "let's see how you do with a moving opponent."

"Oh, Eden, you just... I don't think... Aren't you..." the bard hesitated.

"We're not going to war." Eden calmed, "Let's just add a little... stubbornness."

Arielle saw the mischievous twinkle in the warrior's eye and it brought a calm smile to her face. They dueled lightly for a while. The bard wanted to try to catch the warrior off guard and feigned a lunge to the right, but Eden wasn't fooled.

"It's not all in the body, but also in the eyes." Eden explained, "Keep looking in your opponent's eyes."

Arielle fixed her gaze onto Eden's and they looked deeply into each other's eyes, trying to read the other's intentions. Only after a while did they realize they weren't doing anything else. In a feeble attempt to keep from losing herself in that well of blue, Arielle brought her sword up, trying to trap Eden's blade, but the warrior foresaw it and trapped her instead, the point of her sword reaching the bard's wrist. And then they froze again. Eden felt the strange power the bard had over her. Arielle felt the incredible fascination the guardian awakened in her.

"It's good to see you up and about." a rich voice said from the corner of the yard and both women turned towards its direction.

Garrett was leaning against the wall, his powerful arms folded, a smirk on his face.

"Work on your wrists or else you'll lose them." he jeered at Arielle, pushing himself off the wall and walking towards them.

"What do you want?" Eden snarled, taking a few steps forward.

"Calm down." he said in a more normal tone, lifting his hands, "I come in peace."

Garrett's tone and gaze gave away his dislike of the bard and his desire to do away with her finally. Eden could sense Arielle's tension in the presence of the Templar and could almost hear Garrett licking his lips and running his tongue over his teeth like a rabid predator about to pounce. But his gaze softened when he looked at the guardian, becoming warm enough to actually make her notice.

"I just came to see how you were. I heard you were very ill and I was worried." he said in such a tone that Eden had difficulty in not believing him.

"I'm fine now." the guardian replied simply.

"That's good to hear. Demon's blood isn't easy to survive. Do you know where it came from?"

"A watcher. Dorian."

"Yes, I had my suspicions about that mad bastard." Garrett acknowledged, "But not to worry, I'll destroy him."

"I'm relieved." Eden answered somewhat sarcastically, not knowing what game the Templar was playing.

"I'm serious, Eden," he said, taking a step forward and placing his hand gently on her arm, "I'll have his life for what he's done to you."

"And Arielle." Eden reminded.

"I'll kill him with my own hands." he continued, ignoring her comment and dropping his voice to a more seductive register, "I'll protect you and defend you like no one else can. You know that, right?"

The bard abruptly became severely uncomfortable. There was something in that tone that proved very tempting and hard to pull away from. She felt it herself, but she saw it moreso in Eden's eyes as they changed to a strange, dark and stormy shade of blue that she had never seen before. It seemed to her like all Eden's dark had floated up to the surface of Eden's eyes and stained them. What Arielle now saw was that one element of Eden that wanted to stay with Garrett and that would never be hers. Mine? Arielle now realized her own pounding heart and the fists she had squeezed her hands into. It almost seemed to her that she was jealous, but she didn't know if she should be... or could be.

"I really am happy to see you well again." he said quietly, moving his hand up her arm, over her shoulder, and up to cup her cheek as she closed her eyes.

Eden's heart pounded, the black in her swirling in mischief and the tantalizing prospect of perhaps being let loose upon the world again. It flowed towards Garrett's hand as if under a spell and boiled there under his touch. Eden let out the slightest moan, feeling the torment froth and stir within her like a disturbed witch's brew. It would be so easy to give in. Her dark painted pictures in her mind of how she would be feared again and no one would dare stand in her way. Order would reign on the earth and the only thing greater than the fear of war would be the fear of her... And then she heard a loud snap.

Eden blinked a few times and looked up at Garrett, catching his hand in hers.

"Thank you for coming to visit." Eden said, pulling his hand away gently.

"It was my pleasure." he said, giving her the most genuine smile he could and backing away, "We'll talk again soon, yes?... Perhaps without the little girl around."

He threw a hateful glare at the bard, turned, and walked off. Eden watched him go and took a deep breath. That was much too close.

"I don't trust him." Arielle blurted out in anger, walking up next to Eden.

"Neither do I." Eden replied, surprising the bard.

"Then why..."

Eden turned to look at her and Arielle saw a hopeless sadness in those blue eyes. It was the sadness of someone who knew they would never be loved. It was the despair of someone cursed with something very human- a darker part. Yet, Eden hated her dark more than anyone because she knew what it had done and could do. It hurt so much to just see that sadness that Arielle would do anything to be able to wash it away because she knew the pain of that feeling quite well.

"Thank you... for that." Eden remarked, pointing at the broken arrow in Arielle's hand.

Arielle looked down and tried to remember how that had happened, running the conversation with Garrett through her mind. Then a sudden realization dawned on the bard and she looked at Eden in a new expression of disbelief. She had never told Eden that Dorian had personally given her the quiver of arrows.

"You knew that Dorian was a watcher and you didn't say anything?!" Arielle asked in surprise.

"It was only a strong suspicion... I didn't want to frighten you." Eden explained.

"Eden, you could have died!" the bard protested.

"I didn't know about the demon's blood until you told me about the black marks. After that, I knew. And after that, it was too late."

Arielle nodded sadly, recalling all that time spent with Dorian and the identity and intentions he had hid so well.

"I was lucky, wasn't I?" Arielle admitted softly.

"We both were."

One day, the two friends took a longer walk outside the city walls to the Mount of Olives and sat down amongst the olive trees, looking up at the clouds floating across the sky and, as always, never agreeing to what they look like.

"Arielle," Eden said quietly, staring ahead after they both sat up, "I never thanked you..."

Arielle said nothing, but linked her arm with the guardian's and leaned against her shoulder, simply happy that they were there, together, now. The profound simplicity of the moment overwhelmed the warrior and she let out a deep breath. She gazed out at all that was before her. Eden wondered over the vastness of everything there was on the earth and, in the end, it was this one moment with this one person that could fill all the guardian's days.

"I wouldn't have just let you go." Arielle said as if it was really very simple and then turned to look at the warrior, "You know that, right?"

Eden continued to look out into the vastness, letting the words start a battle with her own doubt. Eden wondered when all of this happened. It seemed to her that not too long ago she was standing on a cliff with one foot already hanging over the edge when the bard suddenly appeared. And now she had someone who had pulled her off that cliff and would pull her off any other that she got too close to. And though it was something that Eden wanted more than anything to believe in, she found it incredibly hard to do so. So she said nothing.

"Eden..." Arielle said quietly with a hint of urgency to her voice, "you're like family to me."

Eden's eyes snapped to the bard in disbelief. She, Eden of Florentia, didn't have family nor would she be anyone's; it was a fact she had come to terms with long ago. She looked at the bard, expecting her to laugh, explain, retract, anything. But those green eyes gazed back at her with the purity of an iron conviction that slammed into the walls around Eden's heart like a battering ram. Eden wanted to fight back, she wanted to keep the walls she had grown so used to. She wanted to retaliate and point out that they weren't family at all, that they were just too different and it was too dangerous and it made no sense at all. Yet, she didn't believe any of that herself and the minute an argument shot up, it came plunging back down again. She took a breath, ready to fight for her stone castle, but the part of her that already belonged to those green eyes told her that the bard would have none of it, ready with siege engines in the hundreds. So Eden let the breath go and let a faint smile cross her lips. Faith.

"It's nice," she said slowly, handling the delicate words carefully, "to have family... again."

Arielle smiled, happier than she could admit. She noticed a wonderful thing in Eden. Her face showed very little emotion, but if someone knew how to read her eyes, she was a much more open book. Her eyes seemed to be their own natural phenomenon, churning and changing with the warrior's emotions, reflecting her storms and tranquility. And now Arielle saw the happiness and admiration in them and it made her heart swell. But a little deeper, she saw clouds on the horizon and her brows knitted ever so slightly, wondering over what caused their presence.

"Eden," Arielle said very gently, readying herself to take it all back, "would you tell me... about your family?"

And then the clouds filled the guardian's eyes and Arielle knew their source. They weren't angry storm clouds, but the cumbersome, desolate clouds of abandonment and it hurt the bard to even look at them.

"They're gone." Eden said in a tone that spoke so much of loneliness that it chilled Arielle.

The warrior became visibly uneasy and Arielle had begun to regret that she had asked the question. Eden shifted her position a little, pulled at a piece of dried grass, and began to twirl it in her fingers. The bard thought it best to maybe leave the conversation there and secretly Eden wanted her to. But then the guardian remembered what Arielle had said about Dorian exposing more about his life than Eden ever had, a point that she unfortunately knew was true and one she never wanted to hear again. She leaned against the tree and let out a breath.

"My family... My father was a tradesman and did well in business. His wealth grew and so did his influence. And with that his morals crumbled and he turned to wine, gambling, and... women."

Arielle noticed the hurt beginning to seep into Eden's voice, but she didn't interrupt, but only turned to look at her more closely, bringing her knees up to her chest, leaning her elbows on them, and putting her chin in her hands.

"He drowned in his pleasures and took his wealth and family down with him. He became a laughing stock... My mother... she was a proud woman and she grew so ashamed and humiliated that one day, she simply left... I never heard from her since."

"Oh, Eden..."

"My father fell further and further, taking out his frustrations on my brother, sister, and me. He was often drunk..." Eden hesitated, unconsciously rubbing her brow and taking a deep breath. "I was the eldest, I should have protected them better... One day, the local priest gave a fiery sermon about crusading, that fighting the infidels would absolve sins. My father took it as his chance to change and return to God. He packed us all up and we went to Aragon. He fought with the Count of Barcelona at Tortosa and beat back the Moors. He left me and my sister there and went on with the army to fight elsewhere... But the Moors returned. We defended the city as well as we could. Nothing was the same after that..."

"Of course it wouldn't be. War is not an easy thing to see, especially for a young woman." Arielle noted gently.

Eden smiled sadly and shook her head.

"My sister was a few years younger than me, such a kind and beautiful girl. She had the most beautiful voice... She died, on the battlements, her throat pierced by an arrow. And with her dying breath she asked me to not seek revenge..." Eden recalled, her voice cracking as Arielle placed a hand on hers.

"Soon after, I received word that both my father and brother had been killed... My brother died in battle. They brought his body back for a proper burial. He would have grown to be such a brave man... My father... died a drunken coward fleeing battle... I don't even know where he lies buried."

"Eden, your whole family..." Arielle whispered in disbelief.

Arielle then suddenly remember the jinn, how he tapped into Eden's fears and pain and the blood that then began to run from her brow and lip. The bard's brows furrowed as she absently reached out and touched the brow where the blood had appeared. She felt Eden grow still under the touch, slowly turning her eyes towards the blond, seeing her concerned and worried expression.

"Did your father..." Arielle whispered, unable to even finish the question.

It was somehow outside the bard's understanding. Her own father was strict and reserved, a fact that hurt Arielle who needed warmth and attention. But he had never hit her or even threatened her. She didn't know what she would have done had her father been violent towards her. She drew in a breath as something deep within her twisted to the point that she felt physical pain as she began to slowly understand the giant load and immense weight that Eden carried on her shoulders.

"He was violent... sometimes..." Eden admitted softly.

Arielle continued to smooth out Eden's brow as she lost herself in thought. There were so many layers to the warrior, so many things she kept from the world. And it was one thing to carry such a misery, but another to also think that she would never be free of it. It was a sad kind of bravery that touched Arielle to her core.

"I wonder how you didn't shatter... You are so strong..." Arielle said with admiration.

"No, I was broken once..." Eden said, shaking her head once, "with no purpose or path. So I just ran rampant like a chaotic tempest, plowing over things and crashing into people until I could find something that would stop me."

"And did you?"

"Yes..." Eden admitted in quiet seriousness, looking straight at the bard, "You."

"So when will you tell her?" Lawrence asked, writing something down on the long parchment.

"Three shields." Eden replied, counting how many were damaged for the Hospitaller, "Tell who?"

"Arielle."

"Twelve spears. Tell Arielle what?"

"You know what." Lawrence replied, putting the parchment down, "Those holy waters didn't heal you."

"I know..." Eden replied with a heavy sigh, "But I won't tell her anything."

"Why not? Don't you think that she has the right to know?"

"No, I think she has the right to a normal life." the warrior replied, looking at him.

"She'll find out sooner or later."

"Then I hope it's later. Much later." Eden replied, shaking her head and running a hand through her hair in frustration, "Damn it, Lawrence, I want her to have what I never did. She should go and be a bard, get married, have children... She should live a peaceful life."

"That seems reasonable," Lawrence acknowledged, "but did you ask her if that's what she wants?"

"I think Dorian answers that question."

"A lot has changed since then." Lawrence noted and Eden began to feel strangely exposed.

She knew what he was trying to say and she didn't want to hear it. And it wasn't because she knew he was wrong. It was because she was scared half to death that he was right.

"She's grown quite fond of you, you know? You both seem... close."

"You've been talking to Helen, haven't you?" Eden tried to deflect.

"It's easy to see."

"No, it isn't!" Eden snapped back, blinked twice, and took a deep breath, "Please, Lawrence, I just... I can't go down that road..."

"I think you've been dead long enough." he noted, approaching her and putting his hands on her shoulders.

Eden saw that look in his eyes that he had when his visions supported his words. Usually, they would share their visions, but these were the ones that Eden was afraid of because they meant too much and could destroy her world more than any battle or war could.

"A dead heart is what has kept me alive this long." Eden said and patted his chest, "I have no intention of resurrecting it."

"You don't have to," Lawrence replied with a smile and turning back to his parchment, "she'll do it for you."

Eden really did hate it when he was right.

The next evening, Eden asked Arielle to go somewhere with her without mentioning where and why. The bard agreed, leaving when it had just become dark and when they arrived at their destination, the bard was surprised.

"You wanted me to come with you... to a church?"

Eden didn't reply except for a tiny grin in the corner of her mouth and continued inside with the bard following her. It was nearly completely dark inside, except for the flickering light of tens of large candles at the altar.

"What are we doing here?" Arielle whispered to Eden, but the warrior turned only to put a finger over her own lips and then point towards the front.

They walked towards the front of the church, their footsteps echoing in the emptiness, and when they reached the front, they sat down next to each other on one of the benches. Arielle was about to repeat her question when she noticed a group of hooded monks shuffle into the benches behind the altar and take their places in two rows on either side.

"Oh God, no..." Arielle whispered.

Their resemblance to the monks Arielle had seen in her dream made her back suddenly rigid and she unconsciously grabbed the warrior's arm for fear that she would be taken away. Eden turned to look at the paralyzed bard. Only after they had sat down and the bard's rational mind won control over her thoughts, did Arielle slowly let Eden go and relax.

After a few moments of silence, the monks rose again and began to chant their evening prayers. The women sat through the evening chants quietly, taking in the haunting beauty of the voices echoing in the empty church in the dark. Arielle could almost see through her mind's eye as the words turned into smoke that rose up towards the heavens to the God they were intended for. At the very end, they sang Psalm 129. It was Eden's favorite of all that were written in the Bible and she almost felt like it was written with her in mind. She felt her heart whimper at the words and her soul lament at the things it had seen, done, and been victim to. It was the warrior's way for asking for forgiveness from a God she didn't know was even listening. Yet, she hoped that maybe if she asked enough, one day she would be heard, forgiven, and she would find the peace she wanted so much. The words touched that need so delicately and opened that wound so deeply that it nearly brought tears to the aching guardian, a thing that did not go unnoticed by Arielle.

When the chant was over, the two women rose to leave. Eden knelt in respect and was about to rise when the moonlight suddenly became brighter and shined on the guardian through the large window. Eden looked up into its beam. There she saw something more than just the light of the moon and she froze, completely captivated. Eden remained still in awe of what she saw and then a voice spoke in the unrecorded language of God. Arielle was dumbfounded by the thing she was witness to. Eden was on one knee, but her body seemed to be suspended, her spirit rising to the surface to listen to the supernatural being. Arielle fell down to her knees in awe of its holiness and she turned her head towards the beam of light. And then the voice spoke to her too. They both knelt in the light, listening quietly to the divine message that was being delivered to them.

Only a few moments after the light had appeared, it faded away back to its natural state and everything was quiet around them. The two women slowly exited their stupor and turned to look at each other both in surprise and wonder. It was one of very few moments where Eden felt whole since she was reminded that she was a chosen one of God and that had not changed despite the things she had done. She was respected and needed. Arielle could see it in her eyes which took on a beautiful clarity. And the bard finally experienced what it was like to be spoken to by God and to know that which others knew nothing of. It uncovered a deeper layer of the bard's soul that the Creator had addressed and Arielle could feel that she was suddenly different although exactly the same. That moment let the pair understand each other better in a way that words would never let them.

"How dare you enter the house of the Lord?!" a voice shouted from in back of them and they both turned towards it.

A priest with a crucifix in his hand was storming towards them and Eden immediately knew that his anger was directed at her. She quickly rose to her feet and faced him. He reached her just as Arielle rose.

"How dare you kneel in front of the most holy cross?!" the priest yelled, "What do you know of godliness and redemption?!"

Eden said nothing, feeling the hurt of her spirit as the feeling of wholeness abruptly slipped away. She knew it was always a fleeting feeling, but she wanted it to last just a little longer than it did. The burden of being forgiven by God, but far from forgiven by man was terribly heavy.

"Be gone, foul craven! You are a demon among men!" the priest shouted and pushed her in the chest with the crucifix.

"I don't think that's the purpose of the cross." Eden warned in a low tone.

"I said be gone, daughter of Lucifer!" he cried, ready to push her again.

"Stop." Eden now growled, catching the priest by the wrist and not letting go.

"You blasphemous witch! May the Lord protect me against you!"

"If I wanted to hurt you priest, then even the Lord wouldn't be able to help you." Eden snarled, a darkness appearing in her eyes and a violence gathering in her muscles.

Arielle sensed the danger beginning to pulse off of Eden's skin. She put her hand on Eden's shoulder, whispered her name quietly enough that only she could hear, and felt the guardian respond with a slight relaxation. Arielle then took a step forward and calmly pulled the crucifix from them.

"Eden is no demon or witch for you to need to swing this around like a sword." the bard said firmly, handing the symbol back to the frantic priest.

"No demon? Have you not heard the stories, child?" he asked, looking at the bard as if she was insane, "I have seen firsthand what this creature can do! I must protect God's house from the likes of her!"

He pointed his finger at the warrior and it trembled as he accused her. Arielle reached out and gently pulled his hand down before Eden decided to break his finger.

"What are you talking about?" the bard asked.

"It was not far from Jaffa." the priest recounted and seethed through his teeth, "We were in a pilgrim train to Jerusalem. We were attacked by the warlord Karas and his bandits. Everyone was killed. I only managed to survive because I lay beneath the dead bodies, listening to those mongrels holler and whoop."

The priest glared at Eden, nearly foaming at the mouth in his rage towards her.

"There were children there, you animal." he snarled, "And women and old men. What did they ever do to you? Did they take something from you that was yours? Did they kill your family?"

At the mention of family, sparks ignited in Eden's eyes. She remembered the raid because it was the one time she had lost complete control over the band. Karas and the men were drunk and the mere sight of the train annoyed Karas and he ordered to attack them. Eden had tried to reason with him- there was nothing in it for them and it would bring the Jerusalem knights down on them, but the warlord wouldn't listen. Some of the men were falling over themselves in their drunkenness so Eden charged along with them, hoping to scare the pilgrims off into running away and hoping the men would be unable to ride after them. Instead, they all huddled into a group in fright and were easily cut down. But Eden took no part in that, the killing of the defenseless was something she never did. The moment someone raised a sword at her, they became a target, but never before.

"Karas is dead now." Eden quietly announced, seeing no point in explaining the rest to him.

"And more killing makes you a better person now? You want to slaughter your way into sainthood?"

"It saved my life." Arielle countered quietly.

The priest turned and looked at the bard with wide eyes like he thought it wasn't possible. But then his angry bitterness returned.

"One good deed doesn't amend a thousand evil ones." he stated, "I won't have this... unclean vermin desecrating this holy sanctuary!"

"If this is a sanctuary," Eden argued, trying to keep her voice level, "then who does it offer refuge to?"

"To anyone who needs it." the priest answered, caught a little off guard, "God opens his arms to the sick, the lost, the lonely... to all sinners."

"Then why not me?" Eden asked.

Arielle caught the deeper meaning and pain of the question. The warrior wanted to know why she was exempt from the rules that were supposed to govern the earth; she wanted to know why, wherever she went, she was always on the outside. She fought demons but wasn't an angel amongst the heavenly beings and she was a woman of flesh and blood but wasn't a human among mankind.

"Because you have no soul. You have nothing to save." the priest spit out with evident disdain.

There were about a hundred different things running through Eden's mind from falling on her knees to plead for forgiveness to skinning the priest alive. But she then felt Arielle's hand on her shoulder and that was all she needed to make all those darting thoughts suddenly stop and settle down. Eden was amazed how Arielle's one calm gesture could silence the violent storms within her just like it was said Christ had done to the waters of the sea. Tace, obmutesce. Arielle slid in between the warrior and the priest.

"Are you God?" Arielle asked simply, her anger simmering just beneath the surface.

"Of course not!"

"Then who are you to judge?" Arielle said in a lower voice that informed the priest that this was not a discussion and she didn't take kindly to his behavior. "You're supposed to prepare souls for the day of final judgment, not judge them here on earth yourself."

"How dare you question my divine authority?!" he cried.

"There is nothing divine in it if it's driven by fear, bitterness, and rage. Eden has done more to defend God than you will ever know. Where were you when Dorian threatened the Holy City?" Arielle challenged, "Where were you when Mirabel was under siege?... Here, safe and protected... by her. So what makes you higher and mightier than your brothers and sisters? You are nothing more than just a man."

"I am a man of God and I fulfill His divine will!"

"By shunning His daughter? Find me a person on this earth who has never sinned!" Arielle argued adamantly, "You're supposed to show the way like Christ did. Show her the path that she already has started to take. You're supposed to open your arms, not turn your back."

"She is a demon!" the priest cried up to the ceiling, raising the crucifix, "And you are nothing more than another heathen!"

He wanted to only to push them away in his fear and blinding rage. But his arms were too tired and the crucifix too heavy and it came down on Arielle's forehead, cutting her eyebrow and sending her to the ground. The priest had about a second to stand in shock over what he had done before a furious guardian grabbed him by the front of his robes and picked him up off the ground.

"Since you feel so close to your God," Eden growled in his face, "I can send you to Him right now."

"Eden, no." Arielle said quietly, getting up back and placing her hand on Eden's arm.

And again the touch caused Eden to stop. The guardian's blood boiled with a rage that appeared every time Arielle was hurt or endangered. She had watched Arielle argue with a man that represented everything she believed in and she had won the argument, but lost a piece of her belief. Eden could have turned the priest into manure, but the bard didn't want her to. The warrior debated it a few more seconds in her mind until she finally conceded for the blond's sake. She abruptly let him go, letting him tumble to the floor. He scurried back up and put his hands out in front of him in defense of an attack he expected.

"I feel so very sorry for you." Arielle said softly, walking past him with a fuming Eden right behind her, "My blood on your crucifix shows you how much you know of God."

The women left the panting and distraught priest alone in the empty church. Eden trudged ahead and stomped the entire way back.

"Eden, he was wrong!" Arielle cried out to Eden, trying to get her to slow down and talk to her. In vain.

It was when Eden closed her door behind them that she finally relaxed a little, knowing that the priest was left far behind. But his conviction rang in her ears and Eden felt her chest constrict with the thought that there was no safe or quiet place for her in the entire world. She glanced at the bard and wondered for a moment if she was a blessing or a cruel trick because the last thing she would ever want would be for the rest of the bard's life to look like that day. The world had been taken away from Eden, but the warrior would rather dance with the devil than take a single breath from Arielle.

"I'm sorry-"

"What on earth could you possibly be sorry for?" Eden asked in exasperation, "Here, let's clean that cut."

Eden went to gather some water in a basin and get a cloth and Arielle sat down on the edge of the bed, too tired to argue. The cut over Arielle's eyebrow wasn't deep, but bled profusely as if it was. Arielle wiped some of the blood away with her fingers when it began to drip over her eye. She glanced at her hand and froze in disbelief.

"Eden?" she asked in a slightly trembling voice as the guardian began to clean the wound.

"Yes?" Eden replied, cleaning the wound quickly.

"What is this?" Arielle asked, lifting her hand.

"Blood." Eden replied, not even looking.

"But the color..." Arielle said in almost a whisper of the bright red she saw.

Eden sighed and looked down at the bard's hand. She then looked at the bard, watching perplexed green eyes looking back at her, searching for an answer she was afraid she already knew.

"I'm sorry." Eden whispered.

"Sorry? Why would you be sorry?" Arielle asked, perplexed, a smile growing on her lips, "This is... amazing!"

"Amazing?!" Eden replied in surprise, "I don't think you really understand..."

"Oh, but I do." Arielle objected, "I'm like you now."

Arielle threw her arms around the very surprised warrior's neck in joy.

"You would want to be... like me?" Eden asked in such wonder that she could barely get the question out.

She felt the bard nod against her neck. Eden was absolutely astounded. She had always seen her guardianship as a curse and a hindrance. She had lived her entire life in the conviction that there was something wrong with her, that she was different than everyone else and her life would never be like the ones of those around her. And her life never was and that fact bore heavily in her mind. It was the reason Eden had kept her discovery from the bard as long as she could with the heartfelt wish that Arielle would be able to live a normal, quiet life like she never had the chance to do. Eden found it difficult to think that someone would want to be a guardian. She found almost impossible to understand that someone would want to be like her.

"Is it really that tragic to be like you?" Arielle asked, pulling away with a quiet laugh and a smile that would have sent any king to his knees.

"If I could be anything other than what I am," Eden said slowly, realizing the irony, "I would want to be you."

"Then we are lucky enough to be like each other." the bard noted, slowly taking Eden's hands into hers, "Now you really will have to teach me everything you know."

Silence, be stilled.